Paulus admits it was all a hoax.

In a tabloid story circulating this week, it was reported that John Paulus has never recanted his claims about meeting Clay Aiken. True to form, the tabloids have not checked their facts, because Paulus made it clear last spring that his story about a hook-up was a lie, a fabrication encouraged by a group of people who wanted to discredit Clay Aiken's clean image.

Paulus claims they located him from the “Big Muscle” gay website:

“They saw me there and that I was muscular, attractive, and from NC and persuaded me to help them. So we worked out this scheme over 6 months and put it into place going over ever detail. I even took 3 prior lie detector test so that I could pass one by any media that gave me one.”

According to Paulus, “… it was nothing but a story concocted by another Idols fans and I was nothing but the front person in this scheme.”

What about the evidence previously offered up by Paulus? Said Paulus, “Oh what about the rag? Used a prop. And the cell phone calls? They were calls made by 'haters' to my phone. And the hotel room? There was really a room 207 and I really did check in and I did walk with someone into the room. Clay and I never met nor have we ever had sex.”

All of this begs the question, why would John Paulus participate in such a scheme and then cling to it so tenaciously for more than a year? Paulus explained, “My only compensation was that they would get me in touch with Lucas to do porno.” In his estimation, Paulus’ porn flick for Lucas Entertainment in New York City paid his bills for an entire year. After Paulus initially went public with his allegations last year, he claimed that some of Aiken's fans sent threatening emails and death threats, telephoned him at his job, and got him fired from his job, prompting him to contact the FBI for protection.

An added incentive for Paulus to stick with his story, after his Lucas Entertainment deal, was
“Because Claymates pissed me off and it was fun messing with them.” He got his porn deal. He messed with the Claymates. So what caused John Paulus to do this sudden about face and claim that his liaison with Aiken was all part of a grand scheme in which he played only a small role? When asked, Paulus explained that his co-conspirators were offended by his apparently softening stance on Aiken, and he felt they were attempting to discredit him:

“Because when I told the haters I was over this and didn’t want to be a part of their game and I defended Clay by saying he looked good and happy on Kimmel they attacked me and said I was a traitor. I can not go on lying for them and destroying a good person.”

Among those who Paulus alleged were involved was an accused blog owner who goes by the name “Percocet” and owns the “Clay Aiken Fraud Squad” blog, formerly named “Rabid Claymates Exposed.” Percocet denied that she had any involvement in or knowledge of the “scheme” that Paulus spoke of. “I am not, and to the best of my knowledge, no one on my blog is in any kind of cooperation with JP. It is becoming clear how insane he is. You can read his e-mails that he sent to me earlier tonight in my blog comments at 411. JP is just concocting a big story.”

Paulus went on to say, “I’d be willing to have a press conference admitting that this was all a lie and that Clay and I never met nor did he ever solicit me for sex and that as far as I know he is straight.”